In support of the September 28 “Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion†Sexual Rights Initiative, Center for Reproductive Rights, Ipas, the Asia-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, the Youth Coalition for Sexual Health and Rights and the Swedish Association for Sexuality and Education have developed a joint statement on abortion rights for delivery at the upcoming 39th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The focus of this year’s statement is on abortion right defenders (including service providers) and abortion stigma. This initiative builds on last year’s successful joint CSO statement to the Council when over 285 organizations signed on to the statement and we hope even more organizations across movements will voice their support this year!
The statement is available in English, Spanish, French and Russian:
CSO joint statement on abortion_E
Declaración conjunta para los derechos sobre el aborto _SP
Déclaration commune des OSC sur la l’avortement _F
заÑвление об аборте__RUS
The session runs from September 10th to 28th, and the most suitable Council agenda item for the statement would appear to be the general debate on the implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, scheduled for Monday, September 24. A couple of requirements that need to be fulfilled include connecting the statement with the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and observing the 1:30-minute limit for the delivery of the statement.
We invite groups and organisations to sign onto the statement by September 21:
- If you have consultative status with ECOSOC and have a designated Geneva representative in the Indico system, please complete the attached form, email a signed copy to hrcngo@ohchr.org, cc or forward the email to danielle@srigeneva.com and we will add your name to the statement.
- If your organization does not have consultative status with ECOSOC, please click here to fill out the sign in form. Unfortunately, the UN will not accept endorsements by individuals. If you are not affiliated with an organization, you can show your support by helping to disseminate the statement far and wide.
Source: Sexual Rights InitiativeÂ
